The invention relates to passenger seating. More particularly, the invention relates to a passenger seat that is both translatable and rotatable between an upright seating position and a reclined sleeping position within a minimal amount of space.
Long-haul aircraft regularly fly non-stop flights to destinations 12-18 hours or more from the origination point. At present, first class cabins provide various forms of “sleeper seats” in which a movable seat back reclines to the point where the passenger is able to attain a prone or nearly-prone position. In some cases the seat forms a substantially horizontal sleeping surface, while in other cases the seat back of the seat is raised somewhat above the remainder of the seat with the seat back fully reclined. The seat is also typically separated from an adjacent seat by a privacy divider.
Although such sleeper seats provide acceptable passenger comfort, certain disadvantages remain. Because aircraft operating costs are directly linked to the physical size and attendant aerodynamic drag of the fuselage, it is desirable to make the aircraft cabin as small as possible. Existing sleeper seats consume a large amount of space within the aircraft cabin, thereby increasing the size of the aircraft required to accommodate a desired number of sleeper seats in a predetermined configuration. In addition, the accompanying privacy dividers oftentimes leave the passenger with an undesirable “confined” sensation when the seat is not being used for sleeping.
Accordingly, there is a need for a passenger seat that provides both a comfortable upright sitting position and a comfortable reclined sleeping position, while minimizing the amount of space consumed by the seat within an aircraft cabin.